Furniture upholstery



- March 19, 1963 s. H. SANDERSON 3,082,038

FURNITURE UPHOLSTERY Filed Dec. 7, 1961 INVENTOR e/ Jm I ATTORN EY United States Patent 3,682,038 FURNITURE UPHQLSTERY George H. Sanderson, White Plains, N.Y., assignor to Creative Advisers, 1216., New York, N.Y., a corporation of New York Filed Dec. 7, 1961, Ser. No. 157,661 1 Claim. (Cl. 297461) This invention relates to furniture upholstery and more particularly to the side finish of upholstered articles.

It has been known to use a covering sheet of plastic or leather over an upholstered seat, for example, and to tack the edges of the sheet within a groove (formed in the side of the seat. Thereafter a substantially tubular finishing strip is secured Within the groove so as to cover such edges and give the seat a smooth and ornamental side finish.

It has been found however that during usage of the furniture the finishing strip tends to separate and become dislodged from the groove thus materially lessening the useful life of the furniture or at least necessitating premature repair thereof.

With the foregoing in mind, I have devised a novel structure which minimizes such a tendency in that the finishing strip may be firmly and securely wedged into place. This structure and action has many other advantages such as more securely holding the sheet edge in place as will hereinafter be described.

The invention will be further understood from the following description and drawings in which:

FIGURE 1 is a rfront view, broken away, of a chair embodying the present invention;

\FIGURE 2 is a fragmentary cross-sectional view of the furniture seat showing the assembly of the finishing strip of the base;

FIGURE 3 is a cr'osssectional view taken substantially along the line 3-3 of FIGURE 1.

In FIGURE 1 is shown a chair to which may be applied the instant invention. It is understood however that many other articles of furniture may be soprovided. Referring, for example, to the seat 10, this comprises a base 11 which may be of wood or any other suitable material. As an example, base '11 may be approximately /2 thick. Disposed over base 11 is a pad of resilient, foam-like material 12 which may be of foam rubber or any type of cushioning material. A covering sheet .13 is disposed over pad 12 and is secured to base 11 as will hereinafter be described. Covering sheet 13 may be of plastic or natural or artificial leather or the like as will be well understood.

The novelty of this invention resides essentially in the groove 14 formed in the side wall of base 11 and the peculiar disposition of the finishing strip 15 therein. First, it will be observed that the groove 14 is V- shaped, coming to a rather sharp apex 16. Groove 14 is formed by means of a router which is cone-shaped. As the router is brought along the periphery of the base 11, it forms a V-shaped groove 14. Covering sheet 13 is simply tacked to the proximate wall 17 as by means of staples 1 8. Of course sheet "13 is then brought along to the opposite side of base 11, is stretched, and is likewise secured to the wall 17a. It will be understood that wall '17a and wall 17 are indeed the same Wall, being a continuation of the groove wall.

Finishing strip 15 comprises an outer tube 19 which 3,082,038 Patented Mar. 19, 1963 may be of the same material as covering sheet 13 so as to appear to be integral therewith when the seat is finished. Tube 19 is seamed at 2t). It is filled with padding or filling material 21 which may be of jute or any other compressible material.

After the covering sheet 13 has been tacked to the proximate wall 17 as illustrated in FIGURE 2, adhesive is brushed into the groove 14. Any adhesive suitable for wood and plastic is suitable. Thereafter the length of finishing strip 15 is pushed into the groove 14 along the entire periphery or side Wall of seat 11. Finishing strip 15 is thus firmly wedged in groove 14 so that the inner portion 15a of the strip becomes substantially V-shaped complementarily to the groove 14 in which it is wedged. The protruding portion 1512 still remains bulbous or arcuate. Further, it Will be observed that the filler 21 of strip 15 becomes relatively compressed at the V-shaped end thereof since it is forcefully wedged into the groove 14. The strip 15 thus exerts a radial pressure against the walls of the groove tending to maintain the strip in place.

As was stated above, in prior construction, there was a tendency for the strip to become dislodged from the groove. In fact, it has been found that children tend to pick at the strip and thus eventually pull it out of place. However, when the strip 15 is wedged into the groove, it is practically impossible to pull it out. Further, the strip 15 itself is useful in fortifying the connection of the covering sheet 13 to the wall 17 since it bears against the sheet at the complete edge thereof.

Whereas I have shown this invention as being applied to the seat of furniture, it may be applied to the back thereof, or indeed to a bench or any other type of furniture.

There has been shown what is now considered a preferred embodiment of the invention but it is obvious that changes and omissions may be made without departing from its spirit.

What is claimed is:

Furniture upholstery comprising an upholstered base, said base having a continuous side wall, a lateral V-shaped groove for-med along the extent of said side wall, a covering sheet over said base and having the outer edge thereof secured to a proximate wall of said groove, and a finishing strip wedged into said groove and pressed against said outer edge, said finishing strip comprising, an outer tube of plastic material and a filling of resilient material, an outer portion of said tube extending out of said groove and being bulbous, and an inner portion of said tube being V-shaped complementarily to the groove in which it is wedged, the filling within said inner portion of the tube being compressed relative to the filling Within said outer portion of the tube and bearing against said secured outer edge of said covering sheet, said outer edge of said covering sheet being secured to said proximate wall by staples, and one side of said V-shaped inner portion of said tube pressing against said staples.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,686,747 Wurtz et a1. Aug.' 17, 1954' 2,973,031 Cramer Feb. 28, 1961 3,001,824 Weiner Sept. 26, 1961 3,026,145 Galbraith Mar. 20, 1962 

